1. I like putting ‘writer’ on my immigration forms. It’s best not to put ‘editor’ or ‘journalist’ because sometimes border officers are funny about people who might associate with newspapers and a border officer with a funny feeling means hours of delay. The chap who processed my form was feeling chatty, and he asked me what I wrote about. I told him ‘beautiful things’ and we agreed that I would have lots to say about Malawi.
2. The 40 kids who joined us for our first meal in Malawi. You can stop anywhere in Africa for lunch, and within moments children will appear to watch. As soon as we put our stools out, they all sat down. I chatted to Baxter (said he was 15, looked nine) and Steve (said he was nine, looked about six) and another boy with a difficult name who said he was 130. Three tried my glasses on, heads tipped back to keep them from slipping off. When I took my specs back I polished the smeary lenses on my top before putting them on. The boys wiped imaginary pairs of glasses on their shirts and put them on, too. We asked if we could photograph them -- I have about ten shots of them pretending to be me taking a picture; and several of arms and hands as they pushed each other out of the way. Then Anne put some music on and they danced, one skinny little girl bobbing up and down with her eyes squeezed shut like a clubber. (Picture by Rosey Grant)3. Francis says: ‘The mountains and the green fields near the border with Malawi. That’s where most of the food in Tanzania comes from.’
4. Rosey dancing with a six foot Dutchman who was wearing a short orange cocktail dress.
Tanzania to Chitimba, Malawi
